Storage Options

When my hard drive crashed recently, the PC guru who unsuccessfully tried to retrieve my data advised that all important data should be stored in at least 3 places. Some storage options are:

-on the computer itself (of course)
-on a thumb drive
-on an external hard drive
-on an online storage backup site (like mozy or qwest digital vault)
-on a file sync service (like dropbox)

A colleague recommended sugarsync, which stores your info online and regularly syncs it with your computer. I signed up for it today and was able to receive a 500 megabite file, 50 times the size of info I'd be able to receive via email.

If you're interested in learning about sugarsync, use this link. If you sign up, it will give both of us extra storage space above the 2 gigabites you can use for free.

If you've got a helpful tip for backing up data, feel free to share.

My Big Green Pocketbook

I love the story of the little girl who goes out for a day on the town with her big green pocketbook. At the beginning of the day, the purse is empty. As the day goes by, though, she fills the pocketbook with goodies, mementos and special reminders of the day. When she gets home, she finds her pocketbook is missing. She left it on the bus.

"My whole day was in there!" she moans. Lucky for her, the bus drivers swings back by and drops off her pocketbook with all its goodies still inside.
Happy ending.

I thought that's how my story would end. My computer was my pocketbook. When I got it a year ago, it was empty of content but full of possibilities. I filled it with stories and pictures, slide shows, spread sheets and homework assignments. It was just starting to feel comfortable to me. And then it crashed.

"My whole year was in there!" I moaned, but not too loudly. After all, the girl in the story got her pocketbook back. Yay for her.

I waited patiently for a month. Today, I got my computer back. Only, it's not really mine. None of the stories or pictures or any of the other items I'd carefully placed inside came back with it. My "pocketbook" has been emptied. My hard drive was irreparable, the data irretrievable.

What seemed so full of hope and possibility a year ago now feels empty and stripped.

Even though all is lost, all is not lost. I'm a writer, after all. I've got more words where those came from. But the thought of losing a whole year of my life has me in mourning. Where is the heroic bus driver who will return all my missing thoughts to me?

If you're looking for me, I'll be holed up in my room, trying to recapture Roberta's story before it escapes me. It was brilliant if I remember right. Who's to say the fresh draft won't be even better?

Maybe it wasn't in my pocketbook after all. Maybe it was in my imagination.

Congestion

I've been trying to post a blog from my laptop all week, a nice blog about snowflakes and warmth and good friends and gratitude.

But, alas, I think my laptop must have caught my cold and is unable to process my requests.

I know how it feels. Thoughts and words get clogged up in the sinuses behind my eyes and come out as sneezes and sniffles and indistinguishable mutterings. I'm sure I've used the phrase "death warmed over" more than once today, but I couldn't tell you the context. Every few hours, one of my nostrils clears long enough for me to remember what breathing used to be like. But the moment passes.

I bought pizza for dinner tonight and announced that I'm done cooking until I'm over my cold. No one seemed too disappointed.

So, if you're looking for a happy blog about happiness and the hope of spring, stay tuned. I'll post it as soon as me and my computer get over our colds.

Online!

I didn't realize how much I depended on my wireless connection until it was gone. Even then, it slipped away so slowly, I kept hoping it would come back. For the past several months, I've been without wireless... which means I've been sharing the one internet-connected computer in the house with everyone.

They're all good sports about it. I'm not. I was always the one tapping my foot saying, "My turn. My turn. Hurry up."

Now, with internet up and running at my own desk, I can get back to my writing.

That makes me happy!

Power Struggle

Our family computer has some personality quirks. Like... it has memory problems and randomly shuts down programs when its brain gets too full. And... the USB plugs in the back just went out, so we have to use the 2 slots in the front.

2 USB slots.

1 keyboard cord.

1 mouse cord.

1 printer cord.

1 flash drive.

3 MP3 players.

Which device will get priority? I tend to think the keyboard and mouse should be plugged in (though trying to print something from the flash drive is like trying to get the fox, the chicken, and the corn across a river).